Aix to the forest 13.7 km, the forest to Pourrières 18 km by Uber!
Whatever was in my dinner last night violently disagreed with my stomach, but I gave it my best shot in the morning to continue on. Thinking a small smoothie would provide me with some energy proved to be incorrect, and the ants and other critters of the amazing forest path were the beneficiaries. The path would have been more amazing had I been in better health. At one stage it was a road, about 2 m wide with ancient rock walls that were maybe 3 m high. Fortunately there were traffic lights, as passing places were non-existent, and reversing up (or down) the steep lane would be beyond your average reversing camera.
The area is a very popular recreation area, and the scenery more than made up for yesterday’s dross. Paul Cezanne is Aix’s favourite son, and he drew a lot of inspiration from this area.
My pace was very slow as I was resting more frequently than usual. After a long descent and while bracing myself for the inevitable ascent, I realized that the families with strollers had not come on the same trail as me. After consulting my trusty French map, I made my way to one of the day car parks for the area. On my second attempt at asking folks who were obviously leaving, a very nice lady offered to drive me to the main road where it would be easier to get a taxi. She was very apologetic that she couldn’t drive me to my destination town, but she had a two hour drive in the opposite direction. It helped that she spoke fluent English! From the restaurant on the main road I was able to get an Uber to my next Airbnb. It was a good call to bale out – after that parking area it was wilderness for about another 10 km, and I think it would have been quite the struggle.
2saunter 